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Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger, July 2011

Posted in Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger, tagged adopt a gluten free blogger, celiac, celiac disease, Chickpea Tikka Masala, gluten free, No Gluten No Problem, red lentil dal, San Marzano Deep Dish Pizza, vegetarian on July 10, 2011| 7 Comments »

Have you met Pete and Kelli yet? Over at No Gluten, No Problem?

Perhaps you’ve spotted one of their cookbooks – Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking or Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes.

No? Well, you should really check them out. Pete is a professional outdoor/sports writer, as well as a gluten free blogger and cookbook author. I’ve been following NGNP for quite a few years now and I have found that his posts are one of the first ones I will click on to read in the mornings because I enjoy his easy style of writing and I know the information (or recipe) I will be getting will be right on.

Pete caught my attention recently with his San Marzano Deep Dish Pizza and so when the new adopt your blogger post went out, it was still on my mind. So I scooped up No Gluten, No Problem for this month’s Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger.

As you probably know, Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger was originally started by Sea at Book of Yum. This month it is being hosted by Wendy at Celiacs in the House. Be sure to watch for the final round-up post at Celiacs in the House with all 25 adoptions and check out all the yummy goodies!

Now, on to the good stuff!

I chose three of Pete’s recipes this month. Mainly because I couldn’t choose just one! The first being that San Marzano Deep Dish Pizza I mentioned above. Wow! Yum! Pow! I have made it twice now and I really love it! It is simple to make, even for a yeasted crust and I love the doughy, deep crust edges. And like he says, buy the San Marzano tomatoes! I grow San Marzano tomatoes every year and they are some of my favorite paste/plum-style tomatoes.

The cheese did get a little dark and burnt in spots both times I made it, which could be my temperamental oven. But it was all bubbly, gooey and yummy, regardless. The first time I made the pizza, I made it exactly as the recipe says, no additions. The second time, I added some other pizza ingredients. I loved it both times! If you like deep-dish pizza, be sure to check out the recipe! And before you start, make sure that your oven will reach 500 degrees – not all residential ovens do. It is important to getting a good crust on this pizza.

Take One - the cheese got a little too brown, but still very tasty!!!

Take Two - even better!

San Marzano Deep Dish Pizza from No Gluten, No Problem

Next up, we made Chicken Tikka Masala 2.0. Except that we used chickpeas instead of chicken. Chickpeas are my usual go-to meat substitution. The flavor of the dish was right on – chicken or no chicken.

I used two cans of drained and rinsed chickpeas in place of the meat and I could have used a third can to balance out the chickpeas to sauce ratio. Instead of sauteing the chicken first, I skipped that step and then just added the chickpeas at the end, before the longer simmer, to heat them through and soak up the creamy sauce.

Chickpea Tikka Masala 2.1v

And finally, I had to try the Red Lentil Dal. We love lentils and I am always looking for new ways to make them. Even though it has been super hot outside and I don’t always want to cook something hot, or at least not for very long, this recipe has little prep and allowed me to step away from the stove for the majority of the cooking time. And red lentils, being so tiny, they cook quickly, which meant less time with the stove on!

I commented to my husband that this dal was great comfort food, with a great flavor. He agreed, and as he put it, it was “like eating mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving” (which is about the only time of year we eat them!) – meaning it was warm, flavorful and comfy.

The only thing I changed about this recipe is that I omitted the cilantro – not because we’re cilantro haters (we love it!) – but because all of my cilantro plants have bolted in the heat. So cilantro haters – don’t let it discourage you from trying this recipe. It is still delicious without!

Red Lentil Dal

All three of these dishes have now been added to our usual repertoire. I hope you will head over and take a look at all of Pete and Kelli’s other recipes and their cookbooks! I know I have enjoyed cooking along with them this month – so will you!

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January Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger

Posted in Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger, tagged adopt a gluten free blogger, book of yum, easy sponge cake, gluten free gobsmacked, kate, sandwich wraps, skillet corn bread, tortilla soup on February 5, 2011| 7 Comments »

This month I adopted Kate over at Gluten Free Gobsmacked. Kate is a wife, busy school teacher and mom of two precious little girls. Kate’s blog was one of the first blogs I found a few years ago. I have always been impressed (and a little jealous) with how easily she seems to put baked things together, gluten free, of course! (I am not that great of a baker.) After browsing once again through her recipe index, I knew I needed to make some of her baked goods and so I decided upon three items to make.

Tortilla Soup with Skillet Corn Bread

Whole Grain Sandwich Wraps

First off, the Tortilla Soup. We always love tortilla soup and this was no exception. We omitted the chicken and used vegetable broth to make it vegetarian for my husband and I added another can of beans (kidney) to the soup to make up for the chicken. We topped it with fried tortilla strips and avocado. And I served the Skillet Corn Bread alongside. Yum!

We loved the corn bread. I always love corn bread in the cast iron skillet. This time around I only used one jalapeno as she suggested, but next time I will add two. The flavor was just barely there and I think a bit more jalapeno flavor would be great. The only change I made was to her process. I heated the cast iron skillet in the oven instead of on the stove top, which is how I usually do it. Then you take the skillet out of the oven and toss in the butter to melt and then the batter on top.

I was surprised that the bread did not rise up much, it stayed a dense, thick cornbread. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but I was initially disappointed because I thought I had screwed it up. But once I looked back at Kate’s picture, I knew I had made it right. We loved it. And the leftovers the rest of the week.

For the last item, I tried her Whole Grain Sandwich Wraps. Oh my goodness!! I have made them four times! I have been enjoying warm ham and cheese sandwiches for my lunches. I have never been much of a sandwich person, even prior to being diagnosed with celiac disease. Back in school I can remember taking crackers and cheese for lunch instead of a sandwich. And then 16 years ago, when I was diagnosed, there weren’t many bread options. So I haven’t thought much about bread over the years. Until lately, since there are a lot of good breads out there and I started making my own gluten free boule. And so we have been on a sandwich kick lately, mainly BLT’s with fake bacon for my husband (not gluten free) and real bacon for me.

BLT’s don’t travel to and from work as well, so hot ham and cheese sounded good to me. We enjoy all the flavors in this bread, but especially the fennel seeds. I had forgotten how much I like the flavor of fennel in dishes. The only change I made was to use amaranth flour instead of millet, just because I had it and I have been trying to use up the stuff I have in my pantry. As well, the only issue I had was not being able to spread the dough as thin as Kate does on the tray. My wraps have not turned out as thin as hers. Oh well, it’s still wonderful! And practice makes perfect, right? I WILL be making this again and again, because it is SO easy to whip up in an evening.

The first batch, didn't quite fill my 10x15" cookie sheet, probably because I couldn't get it thin enough.

My wrapping skills leave a little to be desired.

I have made other recipes from Kate’s site previously, one of which is her Easy Sponge Cake. Just in time for spring! Here’s my review of it.

So, I encourage you to head over to Gluten Free Gobsmacked and take a look at what she has to offer. I know you’ll enjoy her and her family as well as her recipes. Also, be sure to check out the list of all the other adoptions this month over at Book of Yum. And as always, thanks to Sea for organizing and arranging it all!

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Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger – The Whole Kitchen

Posted in Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger, tagged adopt a gluten free blogger, Anasazi beans, Beans, butternut squash, coconut milk, cream cheese, goat cheese, ice cream, Jenn, leek, mushrooms, Pasta, potful of beans, pumpkin, pumpkin spice bars, strawberry, The Whole Kitchen on November 9, 2010| 5 Comments »

Hey, have you ever stopped by The Whole Kitchen? No? Well, get on over there and take a look! I’ll wait…

So didn’t you just love what you saw? Imagine if you gave some of her recipes a shot… Well, I did this past month for the monthly Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger event started, and hosted this month, by Sea over at Book of Yum. This is my very first adoption and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The only problem was choosing which of Jenn’s delicious recipes to try! So I tried a few….more like four. Oops. Oh well, we needed to eat, right?

But first, more about Jenn and The Whole Kitchen. Jenn is a dynamite, creative and intuitive cook as well as a wonderful photographer. She is married, lives in Chicago and works for the American Cancer Society. She is also a runner, like serious running, marathons and stuff. Stuff I don’t do.

Jenn cooks gluten free, of course, but not vegetarian, although she still has some great ideas that can be easily adapted. Jenn was not formally diagnosed with celiac disease but she still knows that gluten is her enemy. Be sure to read about her amazing journey and successes over the past eight years here.

We have enjoyed getting to know one another and have connected over a couple of things; first, she lives in Chicago, from where I moved; second, she grew up in Ohio and with a family that foraged for wild foods like mushrooms and nuts, also like me; third, she loves ice cream (like me) and encouraged me to buy my ice cream maker(!), and lastly she loves great food!

And so without further ado…

First off, we had a good crop of butternut squashes from our garden this year. This was the first year I have grown them but they grew well here in our heat and although they were a tad bit smaller than the ones you find at the grocery, they are great.

The pie pumpkins, butternut squash and last of the Anasazi beans from our garden.

Since I had a couple of these buggers lying around, I figured I should make soup. I chose Jenn’s Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. It was lovely, although I think I used too many carrots since I was using up the baby carrots in the frig and it was a bit carroty. But still wonderful. And just as good was the squash, freshly roasted with rosemary, cooling on the stove. Yum. I couldn’t keep my fingers out of it.

I also made some Bisquick biscuits (first time) to go along with it and they were pretty good too, although a bit crumbly.

Next up, I had been eyeing the Pumpkin Spice Bars she had made recently.

Wow! These were wonderful. And we loved the added bits of ginger. I had to take half the pan to a friend because I knew how dangerous they would be sitting on my counter. And I agree with Jenn too that I only like a smear of frosting. Even though she halved the recipe on her page, it was still a lot of frosting, although delicious, and so my husband is telling me that I will have to make some more bars to go with the frosting! And also because he ate the last one today and I was thinking of it on my drive home from work only to find the pan washed up and the last one missing… The bars would also be delightful without any frosting at all.

Recently, I had asked if anyone had any good recipes for Anasazi beans. We grew some this year as you can see in the picture with the squash, and I picked up a bag at the Farmer’s Market this fall. Beautiful beans. Unfortunately their beautiful colors don’t stick around during cooking. But as I was browsing through The Whole Kitchen’s recipe index, I spotted a recipe that sounded good and used a similar bean, Good Mother Stallard beans. A Potful of Beans. Indeed. The Anasazi beans were a great substitute.

We omitted the bacon and I added a bit more olive oil since there wasn’t any bacon fat to saute the onions in. I also didn’t have Mexican oregano, so I just used regular old oregano. I also added a couple drops of Liquid Smoke to impart some of the bacon-y flavor and smell. It worked. And the smoked paprika added depth as well. These were a tasty treat this week, now that it is starting to get a bit chilly in the evenings. We ate the beans as a meal with some pumpkin corn muffins. We will be making this again.

And although it is getting chilly, we still like our ice cream. And since Jenn convinced me that I ‘needed’ an ice cream maker, I knew I had to make one of her ice creams. Although strawberries aren’t in season, frozen strawberries work almost as well, so we made Jenn’s Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream.

Dy-na-mite! The flavor was wonderful; just enough goat cheese tang with the sweet strawberries. I actually ended up using only three ounces of goat cheese and one ounce of light cream cheese because I apparently gobbled too much of the goat cheese some other day. I probably could have left out the ounce of cream cheese and the goat cheese still would have shone through. As well, I like how she used coconut milk and half-and-half for the recipe instead of all coconut milk. I haven’t found myself loving the overpowering taste of coconut milk in some dairy-free ice creams. And since I don’t have to be dairy free, I liked this compromise. As I sit here eating a bowl of it…

I have also made some of Jenn’s other recipes, although not as part of this event. Mushroom and Leek Pasta and Thai Curry Coconut Butternut Squash Soup. Of course, these were also delicious.